Explosive-engine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

F. E. TREMPER. EXPLOSI-VE ENGINE.

No. 495,281. I Patented Apr. 11, 1893.

(No Model.)

3 R E P M E R T R EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

Patented Apr. 11, 1893.

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UNrrE ST TES PATENT ()FFICE.

FRANK E. TREMPER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE SAFETY VAPOR ENGINE COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY.

EXPLOSlVE-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 495,281, dated April 11, 1893.

Application filed May 25, 1891; Serial No, 394,056. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern; E is an externally threaded casing screwed Be it known that I, FRANK E. TREMPER,a into the piston. This is preferably lined citizen of the United States, residing in the with asbestos e and in itslower end is seated' oityand county of San Francisco, State of a washer e of similar material. Within this 5 California, have invented an Improvement casing is fitted a sleeveF which is held therein Explosive-Engines; and I hereby declare in by a cap f screwed upon the top of the casthe following to be a full,clear, and exact deing, an intervening washer f being present. scription of the Samev Within the sleeve F is fitted and adapted to My invention relates to the class of exslide the contact rod G, which is, confined IO plosive engines and it consists in the novel therein and its upward movement limited by device for producing the spark bywhich the a collar 9 on its inner end. The outer end of explosion is effected, and in the novel conthe rod projects and is provided with a bevtrolling valve for the cylinder, both of which eled or tapering point g Within the sleeve, I shall hereinafter fully describe and specifibehind the rod, is the controlling spring H, 15 cally point out in the claims. the upper end of which bears on the head of The general object of myiinvention is to the rod through the intervention of a washer I improve the construction and operativeness h of asbestus or othersuitable non heat-conof this class of engines. ducting material. A jam nut Ion the casing Particular objects and advantages will be tightens all these parts to the piston head; It 20 made to appear in connection with the dewill be seen from this construction that the script-ion of my several improvements. contact rod G is a spring controlled one and 1 Referring to the accompanying drawings may be pressed inwardly against the spring, for a more complete explanation of my inandwheu relieved will be thrown. outwardly vention,Figure 1 is a side elevation of my again. This construction affords, therefore, a. 25 engine, the upper portion being in section. practicable and simple yielding or spring con- Fig. 2 is a detail section of the sliding controlled contact piece for producing,in connectact rod of the piston and the electrodes. tion with the opposing contact or contacts, the Fig. 3 is a view of the ports in the cylinder, electric spark necessary to effect the exploand of the disk valve with its port, said valve. sion. 'A further and particular object in this 30 being broken away to show the cylinder ports. construction is to remove the spring as far as Fig. 4. is a View of the inlet and exhaust R possible from the action and influence of the and S, of the valve chest which correspond to heat due to the explosion. the ports of the cylinder. Fig. 5 is a View Heretot'ore in this class of engines it has showing the location of the valve on the cylbeen found very difficult to maintain the 5 inder head. Fig. 6 is a cross-section of the temperof whatever spring maybe used, either cylinder showing the form preferred of the forming the electrode itself, or controllingsaid electrodes. Figs.7 and 8 show modifications electrode otherwise, because the heat very of the electrodes. soon weakens and destroys it; but by my con- A is the engine frame. struction it will be observed that the spring 0 4o Bis the cylinder. being located Well within the piston, is re- 0 is the piston and D is the crank shaft. moved from the influence of the heat, and

The essential novelty of my electrode conthis removal can be carried to any extent struction lies in the employment of a spring which experience may find necessary by simcontrolled sliding rod on the piston and a ply increasing the length of the parts in order 5 5 rigid stationary bar extending into the cylinto locate the spring as far within the body of der and lying in the path of the rod on the the piston as may be necessary to effect its piston whereby contact is made between them complete isolation. and the electric spark produced by their It may not be necessary in all cases to thorseparation. Further novelty lies in the conoughly protect the spring by the employment 50 struction and arrangement of these parts of the outer parts and the intervening nonwhich is as follows:(See Fig. 2.) conductors described, and therefore, in some cases it would be unnecessary to use the asbestus protectors in the way described. I do not, therefore, confine myself to thus constructing and mounting this spring controlled contact rod G, though it will be found that the construction and arrangement here described is a practicable and simple one.

The opposing electrode or contact may be made in various shapes; thus in Fig. 2 I show the opposing electrode or contact in two parts, one represented by I and the other by J. One of these, 1, passes through the cylinder and has its point bent around upon itself while the other, J, passes through the-cylinder and 1s suitably insulated therefrom, its end coming up close to but terminating short of the end of the part 1,thus leaving an openlng between the two ends. This opening is directly in the path of the spring controlled contact rod G on the piston, and as the piston moves forward the beveled or tapering point of this rod will enter this space and form contact with the two parts of the stationary or rigid contact bar or electrode I, J,'and by its separation therefrom will produce the electric spark. This contact is not a severe one as the spring controlled rod yields upon forming the contact. The object in'tapering or beveling the point of the rod G is to produce a scraping contact which tends to keep the surfaces clean and avoids their carbureting, whereby the spark is insured.

In Fig. 6 I show the form of stationary electrodes which I prefer. They are designated by K and L and consist of parallel bars extending through and insulated from the cylinder, their separated inner ends being adapted to receive the tapering or beveled point of tho spring controlled rod G bet-ween them.

In Fig. 71 have shown another form of stationary rigid electrodes designated by L and M, one being insulated and the other not. These are separated from each other and extend across the entire cylinder, receiving between them at their centers the point of the spring controlled rod G.

- In Fig. 8 other electrodes are shown represented by N and 0, one extending from one side of the cylinder and the other from the other side and receiving the point of the spring controlled rod G between them.

The principle of operation is the same in all these forms, namely, the contact being made by means of the sliding spring-controlled rod G introducing its point between rigid or separate contact bars above. All of these forms may be readily put in place without taking off the cylinder head.

In the ordinary forms of electrodes wherein the springs controlling them are outside the cylinder, the electrode guide has a tendency to leak and give trouble. It will be evident that in my construction the contact rod G is quick in action and I can make the spring as heavy as desirable. It will engage the stat'onary electrodes in a practicable manner /nd insure a good spark.

P represents my valve by'which the entrance and exhaust of the gas takes place. This valve is substantially the same in construction as that shown in the patent to J. WV. Eisenhuth,No.430,3l0,dated June 17, 1890, upon which it is an improvement in themanner of mounting.

In the use of a disk Valve heretofore it has been customary to place it in a horizontal position within the lower portion of the valve chest,'and to make in the valve seat within the chest the necessary ports to be controlled by the valve. This construction is disadvantageous in several respects principally in leaving an extra and useless space or chamberin the valve chest above the valve. Also in the difficulty of oiling the valve and also in the tendency to injury on the connected parts due to the explosion upon the top of the valve in the valve chamber. My improvements remedy these defects.

The chief improvement consists in seating the valve directly and fiat against the cylinder, either on its side or on its head, and in makingthe ports which the Valve controls, in the cylinder or its head. This arrangement avoids any open chamber in the valve chest, and in reality makes of the chest a kind of carrier for the valve stemand exhaust and gas connections outside.

The explosive chamber is confined entirely to the cylinder. -I mount the valve in this position by seating it in a recess in the cylinder or valve chest or carrier and making the outer side of the valve seat itself against the outer wall of this recess so that the outward explosion or compression within the cylinder tends merely to more closely and tightly seat the valve; and in orderto provide for the renewal of the wearing surface against which the valve bears I put a stationary ringor die q in the valve chest Q for the valve to seat itself against, which said die may be renewed and another substituted when necessary. Into this valve chest Q opens the inlet pipe R for the gas and the outlet pipe S for the exhaust of the products of explosion. The valve is mounted upon a stem 19 which extends outwardly and may be driven by a suitable arrangement of gearing from the engine shaft, or better still, and as an improvement thereon, in simplifying the construction and the cost of parts, I prefer todrive this stem by means of a sprocket wheel 19' on its outer end driven by a chain p from a sprocket wheel 19 on the engine shaft below, the two sprocket wheels being relatively proportioned to effect the timely operation of the valve as is usual in engines of this class.

Improvement also lies in the relative arrangement or laying out of the ports in the cylinder and the single port in the valve. The exhaust port in the cylinder is represented by a and the inlet port by a while the port in the valve is represented by 19 (Fig. 3.) These ports are so arranged with respect to each other and to the distance through which IIO the valve travels, and with respect to their relative sizes, as to give what may be called a lead and a lap. A lead is efiected by allowing the port in the valve to open the ex haust port just a .little before the crank reaches its bottom center so that the products of explosion will begin to exhaust a moment before the piston begins to rise in the cylinder. The lap exists in both the ports of the cylinder and is effected by allowing the port in the valve to get well beyond the exhaust port in the cylinder to cause the valve to fully and thoroughly cover said port before the port in the valve reaches and begins to open the inlet port in the cylinder. fore the crank reaches its top center and its advantage is that the inlet port shall not be opened at all before the exhaust port is absolutely and fully closed, and there is no tendency, therefore, for any of the incoming gas to escape through the exhaust port, as

might be the case if it were just closingas the gas came in. The lap in the inlet port is effected by allowing the port in the valve to.

get fully past the inlet port and thereby to cause the valve to fully close it before the com-' pression stroke takes place, so that there-will be no gas forced back through said inlet port.

The relative arrangement or laying out of these ports is shown in Fig. 3.

Instead of seating the valve within a recess in the valve chest as I have shown, it may be seated in arecess in a boss a formed on the cylinder and seated to place by a suitable ring also on the cylinder or on the valve chest or'carrier, as I have shown in Fig.6. By this arrangement of the valve fiat against the cylinder I am enabled to make the two ports in the cylinder itself. I require no open valve chest. The closed valve chest provides for the simple and effective means of introducing the exhaust and gas pipes outside. The valve may be easilylubricated by a suitable oil hole extending to its bearing surface. The face of the valve .is protected by this arrangement, and the means for operating the valve by means of the endless chain provide a construction which effects a minimum strain upon the parts.

scraped and repaired. I

In order to insure equal wear and to more securely seat the valve, Ican extend the valve stem and placea spring T on same, as shown This is just be-' The valve may be easily reseated,

by Figs. 1 and 5. The gear may be arranged either side of this spring. This spring may applied to a valve controlling a single port as well as the double ports shown herein.

Although I have herein shown the valve as seated on the side of the cylinder, I may seatit on the head of the cylinder, as shown in Fig. 5, the valve stem being driven through the intervention of bevel gears U.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'

1; In an explosive engine, the combination ot' a sliding spring. controlled rod on the piston said rod havingabeveled or taperingpoint, and separated stationary electrodes between which the pointof the rod on the piston is adapted to enter and form'ascrapingcontact therewith substantially as herein described.

. 2. In an explosive engine the casing secured ductor of heat, a sleeve secured within the casing, a sliding contact rod mounted inthe sleeve and a spring within the sleeve bearing against the rod, substantially as herein described.

3. In an explosive engine, the combination" of the casing mounted within the piston head of the engine, the sleeve in the casing, the

sliding contact rod in the sleeve and the spring in the sleeve controlling the movement of the rod and separated rigid or stationary electrodes in the cylinder with which the rodis adapted to form contact, substantially as herein described.

4:. In an explosive engine, the combination of thecasing'in the piston head, the sleeve in the casing, the sliding contact rod in'the sleeve', said rod havinga beveledor tapering point, the spring in the sleeve controlling the movement ofthe rod and stationary rigid electrodes in the cylinder between theseparated ends of which the point of the rod is adapted to form a scraping contact,substantially as herein described.

In Witness whereof I'have hereunto set my hand.

FRANK n. TREMPER. 

